What’s Involved with Self Assignments?
Every year I plan out one or more self assignment shoots. Last year was no exception, with three shoots:
- An old Ohio graveyard – couture and old fashion
- An old Ohio barn – editorial, modern fashion
- Old Sheldon Church in Beaufort SC – romantic, modern fashion
- Downtown Savannah, SC – romantic, modern fashion
Every shoot involved the following steps:
- Plan out the schedule for shooting based on the day light
- Contact any necessary locations for permission to shoot
- Plan out a driving route, knowing driving and setup times
- Equipment required for the shoot
- Lighting setup planning
- Custom wedding dress acquirement, alterations, jewelry, hats, makeup and hair
- Car rental
- Hotel bookings
I love to shoot these sessions, enjoying the entire process leading up to and during the shoot. There’s a surprising amount of work involved in capturing a work of art.
Where Does It All Start?
Usually I’ll be daydreaming, imagining scenes in my mind before I’ve even visited a location. It will start with the general concept: the location, the model flow, the light and the texture in the scene. When I get to the location, I start to feed of being there and really getting into it. This is one reason why I love the challenge of shooting a new location, the feeling of being pushed to think through the scene, to explore it and find the images I want to capture.
I’m always thinking of the end result. How will this image look after post production before I’ve even taken the image(s). This actually builds the excitement and the anticipation of taking the shots. If you’ve ever played golf, the feeling is exactly like getting a hole in one and that’s not a par 3 (although I’ve done that and I’m sure it was a fluke!)
For me, thinking about the end result, is the same as thinking about the final piece of art. I want others to enjoy looking at it time and time again.
Why Do Self Assignments?
I have always equated this to car manufacturers. Every year all the car manufacturers create prototypes from the ideas of their best designers. Their prototypes are then shown at car shows around the world for their future or present clients and other car manufacturers to see. It is a way for their designers to push themselves to their designing limits, allowing their skills to grow and create some amazing concepts. Quite often their concepts will turn into actual production built cars.
I started doing self assignment work a few years ago and have found no better way to test out ideas and really push myself hard with the planning, coordination, creative lighting, locations, model posing and post production. This is an opportunity to spend more time than I normally would do during a client session, shooting, re-shooting until I get the images I see in my mind. Once I’ve nailed the new techniques, I can then add them to my cook book of techniques and use them for client shoots. It’s a win win for all my clients, as I’m constantly investing in pushing my skills and techniques. Keeping the creative juices fresh and alive.
What Inspires Me?
I’ve always had a fascination with the movies, fashion and editorial photography. I’m drawn to raw emotions, subtle expressions and a mystery story behind an image. Whenever I’m at the movies, I’m completely sucked into the scenes, studying the camera angles, composition, lighting, and the tones. Fashion and editorial images are quite different to the movies, with the edgy posing and heavy styling. I think the combination between all three inspire how I see the world. I want a bride during her bridal to feel like a model. It’s a session to have fun and be creative. During an engagement session, I tend to go more to the movie side, telling a story of the bond between the couple and tie in some lighting, texture and tone to emphasize the mood of the image. The wedding day ties all three, as I’ll be shooting in various modes during the whole day: candids & creative. Any candid image can be captured in a creative way too, selecting the correct depth of field, selecting to focus on the dark or light areas of the scene, focusing on the eyes or the gesture.
Excited by 2010
This year will be no exception to the previous. I’m busier than ever, I can hardly believe it. I will be planning out a few self assignments and implementing some new, exciting lighting & post production techniques. After spending 10 days in Las Vegas at this years WPPI Convention & Trade show. I have come back with many ideas and feel very much inspired. There’s a couple of shoots that I didn’t get a chance to do last year, that will definitely happen this year!
I’m looking forward to the shoots lined up in Charleston and Savannah. Where I’ll be using some of the new and tried lighting techniques from last years prototyping.
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